HetMes writes: I want to understand how the internet works at various levels of detail. I'd like some good books to get me started.

I am a software engineer who knows how to code, but my knowledge regarding networks, internet and everything related to them is limited to what I retained from a few books during a CS masters' degree.

The subject, you can image, is not conducive to getting good search results. I tried searching various online book sites, Slashdot book reviews, Google, but nothing in particular came up.

Of course, all the information I need is online somewhere, but I can't always judge whether it is outdated, irrelevant, too detailed, too vague, or even correct at all. Also, am not going to be reading 2000 pages of online text; I sit behind the computer too often already.